FEATURE:
Masters of the Stereo and Silver Screen
IN THIS PHOTO: The Beatles sitting outside studios in North London, January 1967/PHOTO CREDIT: Express Newspapers via AP Images
The Beatles in 2020
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LAST year was a pretty…
busy one for The Beatles. Not only was there a Beatles-themed film, Yesterday, directed by Danny Boyle; one of the band’s biggest albums, Abbey Road, turned fifty. That was a really exciting day – on 26th September -, and it was good to see how much attention was put onto this classic album. BBC Radio had special shows, and there was celebration around the world. It is sad, in a way, that this is the last time we can celebrate one of their studio albums turning fifty because, on 8th May, their final-released album, Let It Be, has its birthday. Its birthday is a day before mine so, I hope, there will be a remastered version of the album like there was last year. I will talk more about the remasters and whether we will see any that take us before Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967). We have to wait until 3rd December, but Rubber Soul - The Beatles’ sixth studio album – turns fifty-five. This is an album I would love to see given the makeover treatment and include unheard gems and demos. It may seem like I am taking any excuse to discuss The Beatles – I SORT of am… -, but it goes to show that a band that broke up fifty years ago can still capture our imagination. Although John Lennon privately announced in 1969 that he was leaving The Beatles, Paul McCartney announced on 10th April, 1970 he was also departing – that sort of signalled the end of the world’s great group.
I am not sure whether I am missing any anniversaries but, as Paul McCartney plays Glastonbury later in the year, it will mean a new generation of fans get to hear Beatles classics performed by one of their genius songwriters (John Lennon, of course, being the other; George Harrison and Ringo Starr wrote Beatles songs, I know). It is amazing to think that, over sixty years since the band formed (1957), The Beatles are still courting so much focus. I am not sure whether there are plans to bring our remastered versions of Let It Be like they did last year. Giles Martin – son of the late Beatles producer, Sir George Martin – has laboured to bring fans songs that, until recently, were unheard and in the archives. Let It Be is not as popular as Abbey Road because of the tension within the band in 1969. Let It Be was released after Abbey Road, but it was recorded before. Although there are some classics on the album – including Let It Be, Get Back and The Long and Winding Road -, a lot of people associate the album with the moments of disharmony; the fact Phil Sector was producing and, at various points, it looked like the band were through and would not carry on – articles from last year actually suggested The Beatles wanted t carry on recording after Abbey Road. Sir Peter Jackson is bringing us a Beatles documentary this year, mined from hours of unreleased material of the band during the Let It Be period:
“Sir Peter, meet Sir Paul, and Mother Mary. “Lord of the Rings” filmmaker Peter Jackson has come aboard a project that Paul McCartney had previously hinted was in the works: a new Beatles documentary using the 55 hours of in-studio footage that were shot in early 1969 for the 1970 feature film “Let It Be.”
The announcement is being made today — on the 50th anniversary of the Beatles’ rooftop concert atop the Apple Records offices in London — by Apple Corps Ltd. and WingNut Films Ltd., Jackson’s production company.
No release date or plan has been set, but sources say there’s every reason to suspect that the still-untitled film will come out in 2020 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the “Let It Be” album and movie.
“The 55 hours of never-before-seen footage and 140 hours of audio made available to us ensure this movie will be the ultimate ‘fly on the wall’ experience that Beatles fans have long dreamt about,” Jackson said in a statement. “It’s like a time machine transports us back to 1969, and we get to sit in the studio watching these four friends make great music together.”
The original “Let It Be” film was shot in 16mm and not exactly known for its pristine cinematography. So one point of considerable interest with the new film is that Jackson plans to spruce up the footage using some of the same techniques used for his highly acclaimed World War I documentary, “They Shall Not Grow Old.” As on that doc, which recently had sold-out single-day engagements in U.S. theaters, Jackson, his producer Clare Olssen and editor Jabez Olssen will be relying on the restorative powers of Park Road Post in New Zealand to make those 50-year-old reels look less dated.
Jackson, in his statement, concurred with McCartney’s assessment that the 1970 film undersold just how much fun the Beatles had in the studio when they were making the album that ended up being titled “Let It Be.”
“I was relieved to discover the reality is very different to the myth,” Jackson said. “After reviewing all the footage and audio that Michael Lindsay-Hogg shot 18 months before they broke up, it’s simply an amazing historical treasure trove. Sure, there’s moments of drama, but none of the discord this project has long been associated with. Watching John, Paul, George and Ringo work together, creating now-classic songs from scratch, is not only fascinating. it’s funny, uplifting and surprisingly intimate. … I’m thrilled and honored to have been entrusted with this remarkable footage. Making the movie will be a sheer joy.”
The dozens of hours of outtakes from “Let It Be” have remained a source of fascination for Beatles fans for 50 years — with many of the audio discards, if not the filmic ones, circulating on bootlegs. The album being documented was originally to be titled “Get Back,” with an initial concept that called for the Beatles to pull a back-to-roots move and resurrect some of their favorite oldies on record as well as debuting new tracks in their first live performance in years. That concept fell away, but fans will soon get a chance to officially hear and see the Beatles jamming on cover tunes, not to mention some original compositions that ended up not on the “Let It Be” album but “Abbey Road” or their post-breakup solo records.
As the lack of video bonuses on the “Sgt. Pepper” and White Album packages has made even clearer, the Beatles were rarely filmed at work in the recording studio for even a minute, much less the 55 hours committed to celluloid for this project”.
I do not believe an official release date has been announced but, with Let It Be’s fiftieth anniversary less than four months away, maybe we are looking at a May release. It would be strange were there not an anniversary release of the album. Although there is not as much gold in the vaults as with, say, The Beatles (‘The White Album’, 1968), one has to think there are various takes and demos that would provide a fascinating window into the recording of Let It Be. I know we have a film/documentary coming out, but there is something hugely important about Let It Be. It was the last studio album The Beatles put out and, after 1970, that was it. In a way, marking fifty years since The Beatles split should provoke more activity and re-releases than fifty years of Let It Be. Since Let It Be is the final studio album that will get a fiftieth anniversary nod, I do wonder when we will see the remainder of their studio albums expanded. For Giles Martin and his team, the process of releasing an anniversary edition of a Beatles album is immense work so, as they would possibly be remastering eight studio albums (Let It Be and the seven studio efforts prior to Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band), they might have to be selective. Many would welcome the more popular albums – such as Rubber Soul and Revolver – remastered, with as many outtakes and song versions as possible.
I am not sure why the fiftieth anniversary celebrations/re-releases happened from 2017, but I guess there is something about Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band that led to that decision. I think 2020 is the year to re-examine other Beatles albums and, with Let It Be in focus, I think we will hear other Beatles-related announcements. On 8th May, Let It Be turns fifty, and it is a great opportunity to examine this album in a new light. I know it is seen as one of the lesser albums from The Beatles, but there are some brilliant moments – it will be fascinating to see how Jackson’s documentary turns out and whether it changes our opinions of Let It Be. In any case, this year will see more Beatles activity and an opportunity for long-time fans and those new to band to get their fill and fix. At the very least, we have a much-anticipated documentary, and it would be criminal were Let It Be not marked on its fiftieth anniversary with gold-star treatment from Giles Martin and the team at Abbey Road Studios. Fifty years after the Liverpool band split up, their music is still as popular as ever, here, there and everywhere and right…
ACROSS the universe.